Recently, I ordered a CD-Rom entitled "The Archaeological Detective" for evaluation for possible inclusion in our methods classes. I haven't had time to look at it yet but it supposedly "lets you try your hand at archaeological detective work, uncovering information about a skeleton found under the old stones of Montreal." The student is challenged to determine the sex, age, size, religion and even the name of the person by examing historical documents, plans and maps, and consulting with experts.

A while back I experimented with building a web page for students to explore that would provide the capability to virtually dig up images of artifacts and learn about a particular period in history. I developed a technique with animated gifs and Photoshop's erase to background tool that enabled a student to gradually uncover images of artifact reproductions I had photographed at the King Tut Museum down at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. My main problem was the multilayerd gifs were rather hefty for efficient download. I was advised to do the animation with Flash but I haven't had time to experiment with it yet. If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!